Tale of the Missing Jerseys

No. 4 Virginia Tech is supposed to wear its maroon jerseys Saturday, when it plays at No. 19 Georgia Tech. It will be the first time the Hokies have done so for a true road game since playing at Louisiana State in 2007.

Normally that might be of minor importance, but the last time they played at Georgia Tech, jerseys gained plenty of attention.

Before the 2007 game, four Virginia Tech jerseys – Sean Glennon’s, Brandon Flowers’s, Tyrod Taylor’s and Kam Chancellor’s – were stolen from the team’s locker room. Among current Hokies players, there still seems to be a bit of mystery shrouding who took the jerseys or where those uniforms ended up.

“Yeah, it was a weird situation,” Taylor said this week. “I thought Coach was joking when he first told us. I don’t know why they stole our jerseys.”

The Hokies were wearing white that day in 2007. When the uniforms went missing, three new jerseys were delivered to Bobby Dodd Stadium by a private plane. But Glennon did not have a spare because his original was ruined by paint from Clemson’s field, so he took the field in a white Georgia Tech jersey.

Still, Glennon’s jersey had an original touch. His last name was written on the back and an orange Nike swoosh was drawn on it, perhaps to give it an authentic feel. The look worked: He threw for 296 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-3 win.

Glennon’s jersey now hangs inside a display case at the Merryman Athletic Center on campus.